My Lord’s Engagement – Q of Hearts (Part 2)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

It was already evening after all, so I had planned on leaving Beatrix’s room, but I was curious about the secret character, so in the end I just stayed there. The castle maids were thoughtful enough to bring more tea and sweets.
The tea sweets were fluffy pseudo-soufflés. There was fruits in it so the colour of the soufflés were all a little different… I wonder which one should I pick.
I decided to go with the one that was faintly pink. It’s probably got berries or something in it.
Beatrix chose the brown one.

“And soo, the headmaster is the secret character?”

That always languid looking one? …That headmaster?

The tall and thin man with the three silver braids popped into my mind. His golden eyes were mysterious.
He’s the headmaster after all, and he’s powerful after all, so he might certainly be a high-spec character.
Some people treated him like a legendary class monster but… from what I could see of the person himself, it really made me wonder if he wasn’t a slug, or a sloth, or a bean sprout monster instead.
He was always hiding in his room after all, and the only time I’d ever spoke to him was in the academy greenhouse… and only for a little, too.
His ecological behaviour was still wrapped in mystery.

“By the way, um, the Headmaster Route, was it? What kind of conditions did you need to clear to unlock it?”

It was a route that I’d never been able to see, so I was really interested to hear what was in it.
I just can’t imagine a romance with that headmaster.

“Once you cleared the conditions that I mentioned earlier, when you returned to the start menu, you’d find the option for the new Headmaster Route. Then you’d just pick the headmaster… the joker, to enter his route.”

Beatrix continued her explanation.

In Carte à Jouer, you didn’t change character by making choices in-game, but instead you’d choose a card from the menu at the start to choose their route.
For example, if you picked the K of Hearts, then it’d be Royce-sama, and if you picked the K of Spades, then it’d be Raiga.
And so in other words, the Headmaster’s card appeared on the menu.

“Wow…”

In other words, had I picked up my pace a little in my old world, I might have been able to meet him…
I’d cleared all the romance and friendship routes, and I’d almost cleared all the bad ends too.
There’s nothing I can do about it now, but it’s a waste.

“Was the Headmaster in the game this sort of person as well?”

“In the game, he wasn’t lethargic, but he was even more of a shut-in than the current Headmaster. He was interested in the protagonist for having as much mana as he did and brought her to the academy, and after that, he’d quietly watch over her but… while he was watching over her, his feelings escalated, and he gradually started to rampage.”

As she explained, Beatrix switched  the legs that she was crossing. She’s wearing a dress, but her actions are manly.

“…Rampaging, huh?”

It sounds kind of disturbing.

“To begin with, in the Headmaster Route during the entrance ceremony, right from the very start, the four rival characters tried to hurt the Heroine.”

“Eh-… why?”

Each rival character wouldn’t have any reason to hurt the Heroine as long as she didn’t get involved with their romantic interest.

“Because she had become a rumour for being brought into the academy by the Headmaster, and so becoming interested in her, the Ks and Js came into contact with her one by one, and she ended up in a reverse harem.”

“Harem…”

What the heck.

“Because of the Heroine’s mana and talent and personality, all the male characters approached her to try to make her theirs.”

“Hm~mm…? When you say Ks and Js, you mean that the characters from the friendship routes were included?”

No, I mean, in the end it’s just what happened in the game, so it’s not like I’m worried about Achille. I’m not, okay?

“Yeah, that’s right. The characters from the romance routes are a given, but even the characters from the friendship routes were passionately making moves on the Heroine.”

–CRASH- …

“M-, Miss Camille?”

Oh no… I dropped the teacup. In a fluster, I used magic to fix it.
It’s the same magic that I used when I threw up the alcohol at the entrance ceremony. It turns back time for just the necessary parts.
…Mn, good as new. I’m not shaken in the slightest, okay?

“W-, What happened then?”

I urged Beatrix to continue.

“Finding out that the rivals were trying to hurt the Heroine, the Headmaster erased every one of them. The Headmaster had probably used some kind of magic, because not one person had noticed that the rivals had disappeared. Only the Heroine had noticed, and questioned the Headmaster… And that was the start to their romance.”

“It’s a pretty heavy start to a romance, isn’t it…”

It’s a bit horror.
And was she physically erased this time? Camille, I mean.

I reached my hand out to another pseudo-soufflé. This time I chose a light purple one, and brought a spoon of it to my mouth.
Mnn-, it’s similar to the taste of rum raisin from my old world. How nostalgic.

---

Being rum raisin flavour means that there’s alcohol in it, doesn’t it?

---

^ That was an author’s note

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

My Lord’s Engagement – Q of Hearts (Part 1)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

Right now I’m in Beatrix’s room.

Trying my best with my unsteady legs, I had thankfully made it as far as in front of Royce-sama’s room, but I hit my limit and couldn’t stand anymore.
Achille happened to be there and carried me after I collapsed though. To begin with, it’s all Achille’s fault that I became like this.

It seems that the room next to Royce-sama’s was prepared for Beatrix, and by chance she was also standing there in front of her door.
I know now why husband and wife have rooms next to each other, so I’m not going to stick my nose in it.
After all, I get the feeling that if I cause trouble for myself, I’m going to go through a rough time at Achille’s hands again. Even though he’s got such a skinny body, to think he had that much endurance… It’s fraud.

“Um, M-… Camille-sama. If it pleases you, how about resting in my room?”

Beatrix gave me a much a much wanted suggestion, so I took her up on her offer.
Listening to Achille say this, and that, and “don’t stay out too late” was tiring though… I’m not a kid, so I know that much. Geez.

Ever since I got married to him, he’s been nagging me even more. He’s almost like a mother, warning me about thiss, and thatt.
But despite saying this and that, he definitely wouldn’t give up on me.
I’m aware that I’ve gone in some weird directions as a woman, so I want to treasure Achille who says that I’m fine like this anyway. I have no intention of changing the direction I’m heading in though.

And so, going back to my first topic, it was decided that I’d be passing the time in Beatrix’s room.

※

I had something I wanted to talk to Beatrix about as well after all, so it was a good chance.
I told Beatrix the rough details about what the Heroine and extremists had done, and how we would be catching them in the future.
She’s the person who might become our next queen, so I thought it would be better to tell her about to danger of the extremists.
At the same time, feelings of guilt about her marriage welled up in me.
According to what I heard from Achille, it was an engagement brought about by Royce-sama’s unrequited feelings, the situation with the Heroine hiding in Topageria, and various other things.
When I tried asking in further detail, for some reason Achille was evasive about it… Why?

Personally speaking, I’d like Beatrix to come to like Royce-sama.
In the past, I probably would have been jealous of her, but right now I already have Achille as a husband.
Although I still think of Royce-sama as wonderful, it isn’t a romantic feeling anymore.
In that cause, I’d like to cheer him on.

But. When I considered how I’d tell her about all this, a number of problems came up.
How should I explain this to her? I’m not entirely clear about the situation, so there are lots of parts that I can’t fully explain.

Royce-sama brought up the issue of the Heroine and said “Wed Beatrix to me and help me capture the Heroine and I’ll overlook some of Topageria’s responsibility in this to a degree. If you don’t, it’s war.” …It’s no good. If I said this, Royce-sama looks like a villain.
Then how about, “I’m making Miss Beatrix the queen of Garnet, so go help us out with catching the Heroine”? …This is no good either. It’s filled with Royce-sama’s self-interest.

Having only heard bits and pieces, there’s a limit to my ability to explain things.
It’s no good. I guess it might really be better to have Royce-sama explain things himself. He’s the one who chose her as a bride, after all.
I decided to pass all of the explaining to Royce-sama. I’ll leave the rest to you.

“Oh that’s right, I’ll call Mei-chan over as well next time. She’s here at the castle too, after all. She’s pregnant so she shouldn’t do anything strenuous though.”

“Eh-… pregnant?”

The surprised Beatrix rose her head, and stared right at me.

“Right, with Raiga-sama’s child.”

“-…I, see.”

Beatrix’s eyes were swimming. She was a Raiga fan, so she might have received quite a shock.

Looking out the window, I found that the sun had already set.
I’d feel bad about staying too long in Beatrix’s room, so I stood up. It can feel more power in my legs than before.

“It looks like you’re still struggling to stand up, but are you alright? Aren’t you feeling ill?”

“…I’m fine. This is, umm.”

The words were stuck in my throat. My cheeks immediately started to burn.
I-, I can’t say it…
Because Achille did this and that to me, I ended up unable to walk properly.

“Look now, it looks like you even have a fever.”

“T-, That’s not it. This is, I, just don’t have any strength in my legs… Umm, last night.”

“Eh-? Ehh-, could it be… Ah-, AHHH!”

It seems that Beatrix finally understood.
Her face also turned red in a flash. My face burned even hotter…
S-, So embarassing.
Because it was so embarassing, I couldn’t raise my head, and just flopped onto the couch. It’s a bit of a breach of manners, but it’s just us two here so there shouldn’t be a problem.

“…W-, Well, you’re newlyweds after all.”

Beatrix gave an odd follow-up.

“Uuu…”

“Achille is different than how he seems, huh!”

Please, just stop speaking…

“Uuuuu…”

After crouching for a few minutes, I somehow managed to get my blushing under control.
Alright. Time to withdraw.

“Beatrix, umm, that’s how it is, as far as its possible, I’d be happy if you cooperated with us. I know that it isn’t my place to say this after all that’s happened though.”

“Y-, Yeah. As long as it’s something I can do, I’ll cooperate with you, Miss Camille.”

“Thanks.”

Because a bit of the embarassment was left over from before, it’s still a little awkward.

“This is my personal opinion, but if you’re going to directly face the Heroine, then I think that in the end, pulling out the secret character would be effective.”

“Secret character?”

“You don’t know about him?”

I tried thinking back to the past. Speaking of which, the might have been something like that, but… I ended up here without finding out who it was. And I’d forgotten they existed all this time.
Even the walkthrough sites at the time still hadn’t uploaded any information on the secret character after all…

“Sorry, I ended up here while I was still playing the game, so… I only know about the four romance and friendship routes. Did you clear the route for the secret character, Beatrix?”

“Yeah, after you clear the four romance and friendship routes, as well as all the bad ends for the protagonist, he appears.”

Was that how it was? I ended up coming here while I was in the middle of clearing the bad ends after all.
The bad ends took an emotional toll after all, so they were really tough for weaklings like me, after all. So naturally my game clearing speed fell.
I mean, the Heroine just kept dying, and dying, and dying after all.

“And so, about that secret character… is he strong?”

“He has mana that compares to the Heroine.”

Was there such an amazing person around…? What a blindspot. As expected of Beatrix.

“By the way, what kind of person were they?”

“What kind of person, huh…? He’s just the school headmaster though.”

---

“Beatrix gave an odd follow-up.”
The word ‘odd’ here is actually ‘bimyou’, and means um, like… Well, basically they’re saying that it’s ‘neither here nor there’ or ‘hard to make a judgement on’. When something is bimyou, it’s like, it’s not too bad, but not too good either. Or maybe, it’s not quite appropriate, but not exactly inappropriate either. Like, in general, things that are ‘bimyou’ are just things that are hard to give a straight judgement on. Like, if you eat something and it tastes ‘bimyou’, it’s sorta like ‘ehhhhh, not BAD, but like… not good either, sorta’.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

My Lord’s Engagement – Q of Diamonds (Part 4)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

“Ehhh? Miss Camille… You married Achille? And what’s more, it just happened recently?”

Almost as soon as I invited her into the room, Miss Camille gave me a shocking confession.

“Right, right.”

With my shock being completely unrelated to her, she was currently in a daze eating the candied flowers that the maids brought.
Miss Camille bringing the petite and colourful flowers to her lips was extremely picturesque.
In Topageria where there are many desert, flowers were a high class luxury, and so sweets like this were new and fresh.

“When, exactly…?”

“After we came back from our expedition, I got proposed to by Achille. Before I knew it, I’d signed the papers though.”

“Eh-… Miss Camille?”

‘Before I knew it’… Wai-, aren’t you a little bit too careless?
Didn’t you fall into a trap set by His Highness and Achil-…

“N-, No, nevermind. Congratulations on your marriage.”

If the person herself has no complaints, then it isn’t my place to say anything.
The two of them seem to get along.

“Thanks, Beatrix.”

Camille gave me a smile as she once again stuffed her cheeks with sweets.

※

“By the way, Beatrix. There’s something I’d like to talk to you about, but is that okay?”

After having tea and having a breather, Miss Camille fixed up her posture.
Rare for her, today she wasn’t wearing a robe for once, but was instead wearing a dress. Seeing her like this, she really looks like a noble girl.
I say that it’s a dress, but unlike the thing I’m wearing right now, hers is just a simple one though.

“What is it?”

“You know how we took leave from school to recuperate and rest?”

“Yeah… You mean how the three of your fell ill?”

She nodded at my words.

“It actually wasn’t an illness… The truth is that we were attacked by that game Heroine, and had forbidden magic cast on us. We were resting to recover from that, and take up countermeasures.”

“Ehh-?”

“Achille covered me, and in the end I was saved by Royce-sama.”

Without me knowing, the relationship between the Heroine and the Hearts Faction has turned into something incredible.
I’ve never talked to her before, but she even used forbidden magic on somebody else without hesitating, so she might have quite the personality.

“Why did you become enemies?”

“It has to do with the Revolution End that I talked to you about before.”

Miss Camille told me about the acts of the commoner extremists, and the things that the Heroine did.
From the way she spoke about things, it seems that the Heroine was one-sidedly antagonistic with Miss Camille.
Judging based on the activities of the commoner extremists, she probably has more of a problem with nobles in general, rather than Miss Camille personally.

The Heroine who can’t be matched even by an elite magician of this country, Miss Camille…
Although it was a setting from the game, she really is a frightening existence.

“And so, it seems that she’s hiding in Topageria at the moment.”

“I see… I heard that soldiers were sent into the academy to catch the Heroine. I also heard that she escaped though.”

I didn’t know the circumstances behind it because they were concealing it though.

“Royce-sama asked for the Topagerian King’s cooperation… or rather, it was more like saying ‘because the Heroine comes from Topageria, take some responsibility’.”

“Speaking of which, the Heroine was adopted by Topageria’s Cintron family, wasn’t she.”

“You know about it?”

“A little… When I entered the academy, I was curious about each character, so I did a little research. It was just their official history though.”

Thinking that it wouldn’t do if I by some small chance fell into the same disaster as the in-game Beatrix, I roughly researched all the characters of the game. On the surface, there didn’t seem to be a problem.
However, with the Heroine and her complicated background, I’m regretting not researching further.

“Once we settle the chaos in our country, we plan on capturing the Heroine and the remnants of the extremists.”

Miss Camille’s gaze pierced right through me.

“And so… if possible, I’d like it if you cooperated too, Beatrix. I do feel sorry for asking for a favour on top of getting you wrapped up into this though.”

“Now that I’ve become His Highness Royce’s fiancée, it certainly isn’t another person’s problem anymore, huh…”

I placed my hand to my brow. Things have really become troublesome.

“This is about your engagement, Beatrix, but I’m wondering if it isn’t also somehow related. Only Royce-sama and Achille know the details though.”

“…”

Because Miss Camille’s specialty is magic, it seems that she’s estranged from the details of diplomacy.
Or rather, she’s just tossed it to them wholesale and left it all to them.

It seems… that I’ll need to speak to His Highness Royce one-on-one.
If possible, I don’t want to get involved, but this time it can’t be helped.
His Highness and Achille… I need to make clear their motives.
Being  used and having my life swung left and right without me knowing is something that I’m long sick of.
Unlike Camille, there’s no way that I can just trust them completely.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

My Lord’s Engagement – Q of Diamonds (Part 3)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

In Japanese, bisque and parians dolls and the like belong to the group ‘western dolls’ rather than just dolls. The reason is because Japan had its own flourishing doll culture. So uh. How am I trying to explain this again? Sorry, woke up at like 5 this morning, or last morning rather, and it’s 1 now. Um. Right, so uh, .Hm. Right, so like, we say ‘you look just like a doll’, but to evoke the same image, Japanese people might say ‘western doll’. Because if we take Japan to be the default, a doll might look like this:

Um, of course, when they say ‘you look like a doll’ they probably mean the more modern stuff, and not the traditional, ugly porcelain dolls. Uh. Damn it. Anyway, if you see ‘western doll’ in a Japanese novel, just use your default image of doll. All it means is that it isn’t a traditional Japanese-style doll. Not necessarily traditional western dolls.

Also note that in Japanese, ‘black stomached’ (haraguroi) means ‘black-hearted’ or ‘wicked’. If you’ve seen Log Horizon anime, should’ve heard ‘haraguro megane’ all the time.

---

A fragrance like lavender wafted about through the elegant but empty room.
I even had make-up put on me, looking like a western doll, and a completely off-looking reflection greeted me in the mirror.

“Hah… This isn’t suitable for me, is it.”

The kind maids would occasionally bring in books or sweets to help my boredom but… I’m at my limit.
To begin with, I wasn’t the type to sit around doing nothing.

“I think I’ll leave my room.”

Fortunately, there isn’t anybody around, so I can leave my room without blame.
I opened the door and looked left and right around the surroundings.

“It’s not as though I’ve been ordered 『Don’t walk about』 or anything, so it’s fine. I’m just going to have a bit of a look about the castle…”

There shouldn’t be any problem as long as I return to the room in the end.
I decided to have a stroll around the castle, doubling as checking for an escape route in case things really came down to it.

※

“…Beatrix-sama?”

“Hie-?”

The moment when I closed the door and had just taken a step forward, somebody called out to me.

“…Ah-”

This is bad.

It seems that I bumped into Prince Royce’s adjutant, Achille, just as he left the neighbouring room.
Such bad timing…
Am I going to be told off for arbitrarily leaving my room?
Perhaps because the game knowledge of him takes priority, I’m a little bad with dealing with him.

I met Achille Jade back when we went to the mountains behind the school.
However, I don’t recall speaking to him very much.
At the time, he had his hands full looking over the master of getting lost, Miss Camille, as she was always about to talk off somewhere else. Because of that, he was in no position to chat.

“Achille…dono.”

“Calling me Achille is fine, Beatrix-sama. Are you going out?”

Achille politely asked me this with a friendly smile.
But I know your about it, know. That the pits of your stomach are a pitch-black black hole!

“Yes, well, it would be too boring to just stay in my room all day, so… I wanted to have a bit of a stroll around the castle, but…”

“Certainly, it might be difficult to spend the whole day in the same room, mightn’t it. However, I cannot recommend leaving your room without telling anybody. It brings us shame, but idiots like the ones on the day of your bridal procession may be lurking in the castle after all… What’s more,”

“Aaachiiilleeee”

As though cutting off his words, a lovely, bell-like voice rang out from the other side of the hallway.

“…”

The moment that it did, Achille made a troubled expression.

“Eh-…”

Unable to hide my shock, I looked at the rare expression of Achille who normally never drops his pokerface.
Even though in the game, he was supposed to be a character that always had a smile plastered on…
In the game, no matter which sprite or image it was, he was basically always drawn with the same expression. The only time that his expression changed was when he looked at the burikko noble girl, Camille, with eyes of scorn or loathing.
The fact that his expression changes when it’s something to do with Camille is the same as in the game, but… I feel closer to this Achille with the troubled face.

I could see Miss Camille heading our way from behind him, with somewhat unsteady steps.
Why is she tottering like that…? Is she drunk just like the time of the entrance ceremony?

“Camille, are you fine with walking now?”

The overprotective Achille ran up to her, and in return, Miss Camille shot him a resentful glare.

“…-Whose fault is this?”

At that point, exhausted, she fell to the ground.
What’s going on…? I’m worried.

“Camille!”

Achille flusteredly held her up in his arms. As usual, they’re a pair that really feel out of place.

“If you can’t walk, then go back to the room. If something happened while you were like this…”

“…Like I said, whose fault is this?”

She seemed to be in a bad mood for some reason, but Miss Camille who was clinging to Achille’s neck in a princess carry was really very cute.

“Um, M-… Camille-sama. If it pleases you, how about resting in my room?”

Achille probably has more work after this. He’d probably lose a lot of time bringing Miss Camille back to her room.
And what’s more, it doesn’t seem like I’ll get to have a stroll around the castle at this rate.

“Eh-, is that okay?”

“It’s no big deal after all. I was bored, after all.”

“I see. Then let’s head to your room, Beatrix. …Achille.”

With Miss Camille suddenly looking in Achille’s direction, Achille was once again making a troubled expression as he carried her.
I think she’s amazing to be able to have him make such a face.

“Don’t stay out too late, okay? There’s work tomorrow, right?”

Achille reluctantly consented.

“Mn, don’t worry.”

“…It seems that you haven’t been made too useless, huh?”

“I said I was fine.”

..*

“Mn?”

This scene…

I was thinking that I’d seen this scene somewhere before, when I realised that it resembled the conversations I had with Baka-sama.
She probably troubles him a lot, but because I could see the kindness, my lips unconsciously curved into a smile.
Goodness. Even though it’s only my second day in the Garnet castle. I’m already homesick.
I was the same way when I first came to this world though. It seems that I’m no good with dramatic changes to my environment.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

My Lord’s Engagement – J of Hearts (Part 1)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

In the afternoon, I was thinking of showing my face in His Highness’ room, but the problem began when I arrived there… I found the person in question zealously peeking into the neighbouring room. Do your damn work.
His Highness was clinging to the door to the room that neighboured his. There’s nothing more suspicious looking than this.

“Even though it was my day off…”

Had I known things would be like this, I would’ve preferred to stay with my bride more.
Even though it’s a rare day off, to have to have left her in my room and headed out here was so regretful that I couldn’t help but get irritated.
While I was in a small daze thinking about how great the word “bride” sounded, His Highness complained in a small voice.

“Achille, don’t be so loud.”

Even while telling me this, his gaze was directed into the room.

“Did something happen to Beatrix-sama?”

Even without going out of his way to peek like this, knowing him, he could’ve just used a magic item or something to hide inside the room.

“I think I might be hated by Beatrix more than I expected… I’d better think of some countermeasures.”

Seeing His Highness gaze my way with an expression deep in thought, I turned my face away.
Sorry to him, but after doing that, did he think she would like him in the slightest?
I’ll just leave him. He should give some serious thought to what he did to her. And then do his work.
I went and tore His Highness from the door.
If by some small chance this were revealed to Miss Beatrix, there’d be no way to recover.

※

The other day, we finally managed a great catch of the Royal Prince Faction members that finally showed their true colours.
Thanks to the cooperation of Raiga, the Royal Prince’s son, we were able to uncover almost all of them, shockingly easily.
All that’s left is the King Faction.
As for them, His Highness plans to clean them up in one go during Miss Beatrix’s engagement party.
And then hurry up and catch that schoolgirl that fled the country, no matter what methods we have to use.
I don’t trust the Topagerian king either.

“Your Highness, this is the invitation list for the party.”

There are plenty of people that I’d like to leave off that list, but unfortunately my personal judgement doesn’t come into it.
The name of the second Topagerian prince is on there too.

“Thanks.”

“The preparations for the venue are proceeding without a problem.”

“Got it. So Achille… Lend me Camille today?”

I’d like him to stop nonchalantly inserting self-interest into our work-talk.
Lending my bride to His Highness? It’s obvious that I won’t.

“…I will not. You already borrowed her yesterday, did you not? We are newlyweds, so I wish you would show some consideration.”

“you’re so cruel.”

His Highness was smiling, but his aura was gradually getting darker.

“Achille, you know, I think that it’s really unfair that you’re the only one having all sorts of fun. I hope that you’ll consider yourself and Camille as having no breaks until things go smoothly between Beatrix and I. I’ll ask Camille to leave tonight free so there’s no problems on that end. I think that as long as I ask her directly, she’ll listen after all.”

“Your Highness…”

Hearing my lord’s well-planned and ridiculous statement, I was stumped.

This is the worst. The worst way of taking venting his anger.
It’s harassment on a level that had it not been for the deal with Camille’s engagement, and being saved from that schoolgirl’s forbidden magic, I’d immediately feel like changing sides to Raiga.

“…Understood. I will try my best to cooperate.”

There was nothing else I could say.
I have to hurry up and hook the two of them up.
For the sake of my newlywed life.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

My Lord’s Engagement – Q of Diamonds (Part 2)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

Because Miss Camille was taken away by Achille… right now, only His Highness and I are left in the room.
What an incredibly awkward silence.
I wonder if this is His Highness’ office or something.
There are documents in the corner of the tidy desk, but a large amount of documents are stored away on the bookshelf.

“Welcome to my room, Beatrix.”

With an unreadable smile, His Highness Royce caled out to me.
Kuh- …It’s come!

Beautiful blonde hair, and azure-coloured eyes.
Just by standing there, the place becomes more gorgeous. …It’s that sort of feeling.

“‘My room’ you say?”

This is… His Highness’ room? I got myself brought to his room?
Hey, Miss Camille! What do you mean by this!? Come back!
Even if I blame my friend, I’ve already been brought here. There’s nothing I can do now.

“You don’t have to be that nervous, you know? I won’t do anything after all.”

“…! I-, I have no such worries-!

“I seee.”

What’s with this? Even though I was prepared to lay on one or two or three or four complaints… I had my enthusiasm stolen from me.
I better pull myself together and really let him have it!

“What do you mean by this-? T-, To do something like getting engaged to me… And what’s more, in a completely arbitrary way!”

“Ahh, that. You didn’t hear anything at all, I see.”

His Highness gave me a pitying look with a troubled expression.
Why are you making such a face!
Even though the one troubled here is me.

“I honeslty wanted to go through the proper steps for this, but the situation wouldn’t allow me, you see. I’ll apologise for taking a slightly forceful approach to it… Sorry.”

“This does not fall in the boundaries of ‘slightly’! I-, I do believe that I told Your Highness that I could not answer your feelings.”

If I remember correctly, I certainly did tell him my feelings.

“Hmm. I don’t think that I said a word about giving up though.”

His Highness flashed the same smile that he did at the time.

“Wha-…”

He didn’t seem to have the slightest intention of backing down.

“Your love was unrequited, right?”

“W-, Well yes, but?”

It seems that he hasn’t been able to narrow it down to who the person actually was.

“I have no intention of becoming your wife. Even if you keep me with your authority, please know that my heart won’t act as you want.”

“Could it be… that I’m really hated? This sure is troubling.”

A complete change from before, now he was looking at me with an expression that didn’t look troubled in the slightest.
His clear, blue eyes were very beautiful. Those irises of his alone are just like his cousin’s…
(gasp)Hah-! …This isn’t the time for escapism.

“…”

I don’t know what he was thinking about, but His Highness was observing me with a stare.

“U-, Umm.”

“It’s already late, and I’m sure that you’re tired. A room has been prepared, so feel free to rest there.”

“Hah-, eh-, umm.”

While I was feeling nervous, I was brought out of the room by the maids, and was moved to the neighbouring room.

“Please rest as you wish in this room.”

It was a neatly arranged room. It was probably prepared just for me.
With white as the base colour, small things in light purple were placed here and there.
When the dor closed, the room was instantly filled with silence.

“I wonder what I’m going to do from now on.”

No, well, becoming His Highness Royce’s bride is a given though. I’m feeling kind of really depressed.

“Even though things weren’t meant to turn out like this.”

There’s nothing I can do at this point.

I’m regretting the fact that I didn’t abuse him as much as I wanted earlier.
Even though I should have cursed him more, for some reason when I’m in front of the person himself, my enthusiasm gets dampened.
Apologising to me like that… It’s cheating.
Even though it would’ve been great had he been more villainous.

While feeling gloomy with no place to run to, I lay down on the wide bed.
It doesn’t feel like I’ll get any sleep tonight.

 

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

My Lord’s Engagement – Q of Diamonds (Part 1)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

Ah, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but anime girls go ‘mukiiiiiiii!’ when angry. I think it was originally a sound effect that was a corruption of ‘mukatuku’, but not entirely sure. At any rate, it’s an onomatopoeia that represents ‘getting pissed off’, but anime characters are weird in that they actually read out such onomatopoeia so yeah. The monkey-esque ones do this in particular (like Catherine or Wakaba for example).

Ah, also, the ‘Mm~mn’ is a sound that goes ‘mm(high)-mm(low)-mm(mid)’ also written as ‘Uun’. It’s basically the opposite of the English ‘Mhm’, and is a sound that you make to signify a ‘no’. You hear it sometimes in English as well, but it’s nowhere near as standard as in Japanese.

---

“How depressing.”

I gazed at the gradually darkening sky from inside the palanquin.
Neither the luxurious Topagerian styled clothing prepared for this day, nor the various ornaments I was wearing offered my heart any consolation.

“Huu, in the end I wasn’t even able to see Baka-sama’s face, huh…?”

This alone couldn’t be helped. As nothing more than a noble girl, I’m not in a position to give my opinion after receiving an order from the state.
Both Baka-sama and my groom are royalty, so I might be able to see him again.

I wonder if it’s about time that we arrive at the castle.
The surroundings have suddenly gotten noisier.

“Beatrix-sama, please do not leave the palanquin.”

The maid that accompanied me said this in a voice filled with tension.

“Why? What’s going on?”

Unable to bear with it, I flew out of the palanquin.
The moment that I did, a nearby man charged at me with a blade.
An assassin?
Troublingly, I wasn’t wearing my sword at the moment, so I took up a stance to fight barehandedly.

“Beatrix! Go back!”

The moment that I was about to take a step forward, a familiar voice called out from above.
And at the same time, a bolt of lightning struck right into the apparent assassin.

“Miss Camille?”

“Looks like you aren’t injured, huh. Sorry, something a little annoying came up. I’ll immediately fix it up.”

Saying that, Miss Camille landed nearby. Her pink hair fluttered in the night wind.
In her left hand was an enlargened quill. She was probably using this to fly in the sky.

“A part of the Royal Prince Faction has been running rampant you see.”

“…Am I, being targettined?”

That man had turned his blade against me.

“Mn. There are some idiots thinking that they’d hurt you, and drag the King Faction’s name through the mud.”

They certainly are idiots.
I wonder if the Royal Prince Faction is trying to drag the Topagerian King’s name through the mud instead.

After a while, the calm returned to my surroundings. It seems that all the assassins have been apprehended.
A number of burly Garnet knights came towards me.
Leading them was…

“Ra…”

Raiga Transbaal!
With silver hair and blue eyes, there stood the prince that I worshipped.

“Sorry. Some of my father’s subordinates did something stupid.”

“Y-, Yeah…”

The real live Raiga, just now, spoke to me!
I know that he’s Mei’s Danna-sama, but my heart fluttered despite myself.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-, Yes-!”

“Geez, Raiga-sama. If they’re your subordinates then at least keep a proper eye on them please~”

Miss Camille is actually complaining to that Raiga-sama!

“So noisy. I can send this words right back at Royce.”

“Mukiiiiiii!”

It seems that Miss Camille and Raiga are close. They’re cracking jokes at each other.

“Beatrix, let’s go.”

“Miss Camille? Eh-…”

She suddenly pulled my arm, and sat me down on the quill.

“Hold on tight, okay? Raiga-samaaa! I’ll leave the rest to youuu.”

“Ah-, oi! Tattoo woman! Are you trying to push all the bothersome stuff onto me!?”

Ignoring Raiga’s scream, Miss Camille flew towards the castle, with me on the broom as well.

“Don’t worry. I had the bridal procession continue all the way until the castle. As though nothing happened, you see.”

Camille smiled cheekily.
It seems that after I flew away, the bridal procession carried the empty palanquin to the castle.

Our surroundings are already completely covered by the darkness of the night.
It was a luxurious outfit, but the Topagerian bridal costume I was wearing had a lot of exposure, so the night wind was cold. The outfit I was wearing today was the one for welcoming the bride, and on the day of the wedding, I’ll be wearing something different.

“Aren’t you cold, Miss Camille?”

Under her robe, she was wearing a vest, blouse and skirt; the common clothing for female magicians in this country.

“Hmm, it’s cold but I guess I’m used to it. Ahh, you’re cold, aren’t you? Wear this.”

With that, she tried to give me her robe.

“That won’t do. You’ll get cold, Miss Camille.”

“I see.”

After saying that, Miss Camille lit up a number of flames around the quill in succession.
Seeing them float in the dark night felt a little fantastical.

“Is the cold any better?”

“Eh-, yeah.”

It certainly does feel warm around the flames.

“I have magic for blowing warm and and stuff, but they have the downside of drying your skin. Should I try mixing in steam with it?”

“Nah… This much is plenty.”

I grew up in the desert, so It’s not like I’m that sensitive to the cold.

After intruding on the castle grounds, she headed for the window of a noticably high tower.

“It’s fine. The assassins are all finished after all.”

“That’s not what I was worried about.”

All the assassins or whatever were probably caught back there.

“Hey, Beatrix?”

“What’s up?”

“It might be weird coming from me, but…”

It seemed that Miss Camille was struggling to pit the words out, but eventually those small and pretty lips parted.

“Royce-sama is a good person, you see. Get along, okay?”

“…”

Royce Garnet.
My biggest worry at this moment.
The hated man that basically used a sneak attack to have me wedded into Garnet.
Sorry to Miss Camille, but I don’t feel like getting along with him in the slightest, so I gave her a vague smile.
Still on the broom, she headed through the window into the building.

※

“I have returneddd! I spotted Beatrix-sama, so I kind of brought her along as well!”

“Thanks, Camille.”

Standing next to His Highness Royce as he thanked Camille with a broad smile, was Achille who was giving off an incredibly dark aura. Scary! Since I knew what he was like in the game, it was incredibly scary!

“Achille, I’m back~”

I gazed at Miss Camille with a look of respect, as she ignored his aura and ran over to him.

“You said that you wouldn’t get involved in any fights, right? So then why did you attack the enemy?”

“Mn~? What are you talking about~?”

“It’s pointless to try and fool me. Thanks to that ring, I know all the things that you’re guilty of.”

“Geh-! You can tell that much?”

As Miss Camille tried to run for it, Achille caught her by the scruff of the neck…

“You broke our promise, didn’t you?”

Achille who was whispering in an elegant and sexy voice sounded somewhat happy, contrary to his words.

“I-, I’m sorry! I’m very sorryyy! I won’t do it againnn!”

On the other hand, for some reason Miss Camille’s eyes were getting more and more teary.

“Shall we go?”

Just like that, Miss Camille was dragged out through the door…

“Hang on, Achille. I said that I’d be borrowing Camille for the evening, didn’t I?”

“You did borrow her. The time limit has passed. Please work something out on your own for the rest.”

Achille ignored his lord’s orders… Since this was also different from the game, it was refreshing.

“R-, ROYCE-SAM-…”

-BANG-
…The shutting door cut off the rest of Miss Camille’s cry for help.

“My my, Camille might end up useless until tomorrow evening now.”

So muttered His Highness Royce as he looked at the door with a complicated expression.

 

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Newlywed Life – J of Hearts (Part 1)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

“Achille~♪ Congratulations on losing your vir■■■ity~”

“Pff-…”

I almost spat out the black tea I was drinking by accident. What a thing to start the conversation with, Your Highness!
It was a blessing that there was nobody else around.

After getting to my workplace, just as I was about to begin with, His Highness intruded on me.
He’s grinning form ear to ear.
Since it’s him, I knew that he would appear before long, but… he’s unexpectedly fast, huh?

“…You are getting in the way of my work, but is there anything you need…? If not, then please leave.”

“Getting shy? Was it that great? Camille’s first-…”

“Miss Beatrix. Shall I reveal to her about how you stalked her, Your Highness?”

“…-!”

His Highness shut his mouth in a fluster.
Hard to imagine from his sparkling appearance, he loves gossip.
The gossip within the castle is one of his favourite things, and occasionally he grasps hold of some ridiculously crazy information.

But, Camille was cute last night. Incredibly cute.
Having her turn bright red, and asking for it with her raspberry eyes moist with tears was honestly… Ah-, crap. I was supposed to be in the middle of working.
I frantically stilled my loosening expression.

“Is Camille off work today?”

“Yes. I don’t want her overdoing it today.”

“Ohhh?”

His Highness smirked happily.
Thanks to his preparations behind the scenes, I was able to marry Camille without a problem.
Because of that, I’m thankful to him… but, it seems like I’m going to be seen through in various ways, so I’m feeling a little complicated about it.

※

“And so you see, since Beatrix is coming, I thought I’d hold my engagement party.”

His Highness’ fiancée, a Count’s daughter, Beatrix Tapas, from the neighbouring country, was presently on her way to castle.
Apparently she’s riding in a palanquin, in the middle of an exaggerated bridal procession.
I was thinking that it would’ve been fine even if they just avoided all the annoying steps and took a teleportation circle here, but Topageria probably has its own pretentions and customs and various annoying things.
They decided to pick teleporting to the capital, and then donig their old fashioned procession from there.

“Your Highness, though the inside of the castle is better than before, it is still not perfect…”

“Yeah, I still haven’t finished cleaning. That’s why I’m planning on cleaning up the remaining garbage at the engagement party.”

His Highness intends on dragging out to the engagement party, those nobles who he hasn’t been able to get a good hold of thus far.

“Even though you know that it might put Miss Beatrix in danger, you will still say such things?”

Moreover, there’ll be a huge crowd of people attending.
If possible, I’d prefer there not to be any problems.

“I want to hurry it up. This isn’t the time for the castle to be disagreeing with each other after all, and I want it to calm down quickly so that we can turn our gazes outside.”

Certainly, the remnants of the extremists who are hiding outside the country are a worry. I understand what His Highness is trying to say as well.

“Understood. Anyway, Miss Beatrix was supposed to be arriving soon, wasn’t she?”

“Mmn. She’s heading here now. She’s supposed to arrive at night. ”

His Highness is in a good mood.
Well, as for me, as long as my workload doesn’t increase, I’m fine either way though.

“And so, I’d like you to lend me Camille tonight. She’s on good terms with Beatrix, isn’t she? I’m sure Beatrix will be uneasy in a new environment too, so I was thinking about giving her somebody to talk to.”

Damn him. It looks like he’s thinking of using Camille as a buffering agent with his fiancée.

“I refuse. Did you intend on calling Camille here on her rest day?”

“You’re refusing for another reason, right? That’s so unfair. Having it so that only you get to get all clingy with your wife.”

Certainly, I’m planning on playing with Camille once I get home today.
If you understand, then don’t give out unreasonable orders, please.

“I’ll be getting busy soon, so I will have to begin staying overnight at the castle. Please let me go home for tonight, at least.”

“Ehhh, come on. I’ll give you a good room you can share with Camille, so you can just flirt all you like there, can’t you? She’ll be getting busy soon as well, right? You two can just use the same room.”

“I do not think it is a good idea to mix business and pleasure.”

“Either way, once Camille becomes my bodyguard, she’ll be staying at the castle anyway, righttt? Sorry, Achille.”

Clad in a sparkling aura, His Highness smiled sweetly at me.

snap…

“Ah.”

Crap, I clenched my fist too hard and my pen broke.
I flusteredly used restoration magic to repair it.

“Well then, that’s how it’ll be.”

Letting out refreshingness all over the place with a smile, His Highmess prepared communication magic. He probably plans on contacting Camille directly.
And Camille would never refuse a request from His Highness.

snap…

“Ah.”

It broke again.

※

“Royce-sama~ Good evening!”

Having arrived at the castle, Camille waved at His Highness with a smile.

I was wondering whether or not to restrain my cheating wife, but after that, she immediately ran to my side.
Perhaps because of what happened this morning, once she was by my side, she couldn’t calm down at all and began to fidget… So cute.

After taking Camille’s small hand, I found that it was surprisingly cold.

“Did you come by air?”

“Mn, it’s faster that way, isn’t it?”

“You’ll get cold outside, so you need to wear warmer clothing than this, right?”

“Sorry, sooorry. It was a call from Royce-sama, so I was in a rush, you see.”

“…”

I was relieved that there wasn’t a pen in my hand.
To think that I was this narrow-minded a person… It’s quite late, but I only just realised.
Various things that I’d been suppressing seemed like they would going to explode all at once.

Because the issue with Miss Beatrix was something arranged in secret, we’re all moving to His Highness’ room first.

“…And so you see, so that Beatrix gets used to this place, I’d like you to help out, Camille.”

“Understood. It would be good if you could quickly get along with her, wouldn’t it, Royce-sama?”

“Yeah…”

To the reply of his airheaded subordinate, His Highness agreed in a slightly depressed tone.
It’s His Highness who took a highly calculated and overbearing approach to this, but it seems that he’s worrying about Miss Beatrix in his own way.
As much as possible, I’d like to help His Highness.

 

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Newlywed Life – Q of Hearts (Part 2.5)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

“Mm, mmn…”

My eyes lightly opened.

“So bright…”

My body feels heavy for some reason. I might have overslept.
The birds are chirping pii pii.
There are no sparrows in this world, so you don’t hear chuunchuun first thing in the morning.

“Morning.”

I could see a pair of tiredly narrowed cobalt eyes right in front of me.

“…?”

Why is he here? And moreover, he’s not wearing a shir-… Ah.
Right.

“UWAHHHHHHHHHH-!”

I just recalled it!
I …last night.

“HA, HAWAWAWAWA,”

“Could you not scream right in my ear first thing in the morning?”

Even though he threw abusive words at me, Achille’s voice was sweet.

“Um, umm-…”

Unable to hide my unrest, I bolted upright.

“- …Camille, I can see.”

“! …Hyah-”

I forgot! Right now I’m not wearing anything either. I flusteredly dove back under the feather quilt.

“You’re being too agitated.”

“You’re being too calm. I’m kind of getting the feeling that for a while now I’ve been getting flustered on my own, but…”

With an expression that seemed like it could melt anything, Achille pulled me into a hug.
Fuwahh… So Achille can make expressions like this too. Seeing this expression I wasn’t used to on my childhood friend, my face was just about boiling.

“There’s no way that I’m calm, you know? Even now.”

Being I was glued to him in a hug, I could tell from his beating heart what he was actually feeling.
I get the feeling that it’s beating a little faster than usual.

“Ah-, Achille.”

“Huhu… Camille, you were cute last night, you know.”

“Fugoh-!”

There’s definitely no mistake that my heart is thumping wildly enough that we can’t even compare.
Stuck together like this, it’s probably completely obvious to Achille too. Uuu, it’s embarassing…

“I’ll be going to work at lunch today, so we can stay like this a bit longer, right?”

Like that, Achille showed no signs of parting the arms he had wrapped around me.

“Um, Achille. I’d like to get changed, but…”

“Why?”

“Well, I mean…”

Seeing me try to break out of his arms, he gave me a teasing grin.

“If you’re feeling that cold, how about I warm you up?”

“Eh-…? T-, That’s not- …Nn-!”

In the end, my wish to leave Achille’s bed didn’t come true until after lunch.

---

<Previous Chapter | Imouto | Next Chapter>

Newlywed Life – Q of Hearts (Part 2)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

---

“Come on, Camille-sama!”

“U-, Uu-”

“Hurry! Please prepare yourself!”

“B-, But… Whoa-?”

Because of the impact from being pushed from behind, I stumbled forward and fell down.

“Aahh-”

bang…

Falling forward because I lost my balance, the door closed behind me with nobody else having gone through.
I even heard the click of the door being locked. Damn you, Aimée, locking me out!
When the time comes, I can unlock a lock of that level at any time, you know.

“…Camille?”

“!”

I could hear the voice of the owner of this room above me.

“Are you okay? Can you stand?”

“Achille…”

In the middle of the darkened room stood the childhood friend who had become my husband.
His neat and sweet face was illuminated by the light in the room.

It’s night right now. It’s pitch black outside the windows, and the only source of light in the mansion are the lights from the magic lanterns.
Having finished bathing and being unwillingly changed by the maid into this outfit, I returned to my room but Aimée who was lying in wait threw me through that door into the next room, and I ended up getting locked out of my own room.
And because of that, I exposed the shameful sight of falling straight forward onto the floor.

“I-, I’m fine. I can stand on my own, you know.”

With my two hands on the floor, just before I was about to get up myself, Achille helped me up.

“You’re not injured anywhere? Show me for a min-… -?”

“…?”

Nn?
What’s wrong? Achille’s words cut off part-way.
Wondering what was up, I looked up at his face, and found that his expression was stiff for some reason.
Not just his expression either; if I looked carefully, his whole body had stiffened up. It’s an expression with no composure; rare for him.

“U-, Umm… Are you okay, Achille? Are you, feeling bad?”

“…”

There’s no reply.

“Achille?”

I tried my best to bring his consciousness back by calling out to him, but there really was no change. His gaze was just fixed on one spot, and seemingly shaking,…

“…Geh-!”

When I looked carefully, I found that his gaze was on me… How do I say this, isn’t his eyes fixed above my sexy negligee!?
Awawawa, speaking of which, I was wearing a super embarassing outfit!

It’s a dangerous outfit that’s an incredibly short, plain black, slightly see-through lace nightwear.
WAHH! UWAHHHHH! What do I do!?
ACHILLE IS LOOKING AT MEEEEEEEE! A-, A hole! I want to bury myself in a hole!
Where is it!? WHERE’S THE HOLE FOR ME TO BURY MYSELF IN-!?

Because of my magnificently uncomposed behaviour, seeing that, Achille instead seemed to be gaining his footing back.
A little calmness seemed to have returned to his expression.

“Camille.”

But, I can somewhat feel a feverish gaze on me.

“Uu-… Um, umm. T-, There are circumstances for these clothes. The maids put it on, s-, so I’ll be going, okay-? …Uohh-”

Before I could finish speaking, I ended up strongly embraced.

“…Camille.”

Like that, I was caught by Achille, and got carried all the way to the bed. He gently put me down on top of the fluffy quilt.

“Y-, You’re wrong-. This definitely isn’t a hobby of mine…”

“You dressed like that for me, didn’t you?”

“L-, Like I said, circumstances…”

Uwahhhh, what’s with this shame-play? LET THIS ENDDD!

“Can I have a better look?”

“No! It’s embarassing!”

Unable to bear this any longer, I hid my whole body behind my two arms.

“Why? It’s cute.”

“Eh-?”

At that moment, my body softly hung in the air, before falling. I can feel the soft bed on my back.

I could see in my vision Achille, and the ceiling of the canopy bed.

“Huh?”

This means… I was, pushed down?

“A-, A-A-A-A-Achille.”

Watching me fall into unrest and behind doing strange things, Achille stifled a laugh. Every single one of his actions is amorous.
He looked down on me with his passion-tinged cobalt eyes.
It’s like being frozen earlier was a lie.

“Camille, am I no good?”

“T-, That’s not it. Don’t I always tell you?”

“Am I, scary?”

I shook my head back and forth.

“Y-, You’re not scary, you know. You definitely won’t do anything cruel to me.”

“Then, having me do that kind of thing to you, are you against it?”

He smoothly stroked the nape of my neck with his finger. As you’d expect, even I could guess his intentions.

“-, hii- ‘m not, against it…”

It’s not that I’m against it. Probably. …I’m incredibly embarassed through.

“I-, It’s okay… I don’t dislike you, after all.”

That’s how it is.
Whatever I say, I like him. I cherish him. I have no objections with marrying him either.

“I won’t do anything cruel to you. I promise.”

“Mn…”

I can believe in his words. Even right now, so that he doesn’t scare me, he’s carefully making sure I’m okay.
I prepared myself, and embraced him.

“I believe you. It’s you, after all.”

 

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